When Brad Richards made his way to the penalty box for slashing Alex Ovechkin with 1 minute 54 seconds remaining in regulation of Game 3, the Capitals couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity. What better way to try and tie the contest than with the power play that ranked atop the NHL in the regular season?But the Capitals wouldn’t cash in on the power play and failed to even put a shot on goal during what was largely a six-on-four after they pulled Braden Holtby for an extra attacker. New York’s penalty kill was at its smothering best, clogging up shooting lanes and removing options.“We just couldn’t find the opening. They were so tight, and obviously we knew they were committed to blocking shots and we were trying to find a hole and couldn’t find it. We’ll learn from it, though,” Mike Green said. “It wasn’t going to be a cute goal, it was going to be throw it on net and bang it in. We were on the perimeter.”

For as much as the Rangers limited possibilities, the Capitals know they spent too much time searching for the perfect shot rather than making what they could out of the little space they had. Of the three shots Washington attempted one missed the net (Troy Brouwer) and two (both by Nicklas Backstrom) were blocked.“We probably just could’ve tried to figure out a better way to get to the net,” Coach Adam Oates said. “Just to start the process of now they’ve got to recover, maybe there’s a rebound, second wave. Probably a little too cute with it.”